The Cambridge-Isanti cross country program has hosted the Norm Ayen Invitational for many years.
This year the event, which was held on Tuesday, Sept. 24, was different.
Unlike in past seasons, when the race was run at Isanti Middle School, this year’s meet was hosted by Purple Hawk Country Club.
“We saw the course for the first time this morning,” C-I junior Makenna Sjoberg said following the girls varsity race that day. “I was really scared, because it seemed really hilly. But it was good.”
Junior Hunter Jacobson said he also enjoyed the race’s move to Purple Hawk.
“I thought it was a fun course, except for the hill on the back around the 800-meter mark — that I thought was pretty steep,” he said. “There is a gravel path right before it, so you hear the spikes clanking, and then you have to go up a hill.”
C-I cross country coach Josh Lowman said the program was “ecstatic” to have the chance to run at Purple Hawk.
“Our program qualified for its first state meet when the district meet was run here in 1976,” Lowman said. “But it’s been over 40 years since we’ve been here.
“Purple Hawk has been fantastic to work with, and we hope we can come back here for 40 years.”
In the boys’ race, Cambridge-Isanti tied Forest Lake for third with 87 points; the tiebreaker, which is the finish of the sixth runner, went to the Rangers. Anoka won the meet with 48 points, while Coon Rapids was second with 73.
Individually Jacobson was the Bluejackets top individual, placing seventh with a time of 17:32.58. He was followed by senior Peyton Dombeck (17:43.19) in 12th, junior Austin Burgess (18:14.39) in 19th, sophomore Lucashio Larson (18:31.33) in 24th and senior Keagen Lowman (18:36.27) in 25th.
“I liked the openness of this course,” Jacobson said. “There’s a lot more up-and-down here instead of being flat.”
On the girls’ side, Cambridge-Isanti took second with 73 points, five fewer than Rogers in third. Forest Lake ran away from the rest of the field to win the title with 24 points, placing all five of its scoring runners in the top nine while its two displacers took 10th and 11th.
Sjoberg was the first finisher for the Bluejackets, earning seventh with a 20:04.93 clocking. She was followed by freshman Ashley Lehrer (21:20.08) in 16th, junior Lydia Smisson (21:39.14) in 18th, freshman Julia Steman (21:41.38) in 19th, and junior Athena Schoen (21:51.21) in 21st.
“It was not as flat as the middle school,” Sjoberg said. “I like the hills — I think they’re fun.”
Cambridge-Isanti had five of its top seven runners on the girls’ side post their fastest time this season, as did three of the top seven on the boys side. That was just icing on the cake for Josh Lowman the coach, who said the reason his team did not see the course until the morning of the race is because it was not fully ready until that morning.
“We love the aesthetics — it just looks good,” he said. “It’s two laps instead of three, and there’s some up-and-down.
“But it’s a cross country course. It looks and feels like a cross country course. That’s the difference.”
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